In general, Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) is a filtration process that separates different sized particles. Because of the unique composition of particles and associated varying sizes, a filter membrane or filter medium can be employed to separate particles to obtain a purified product output. In other words, the target purified product output can be controlled by a specific filter medium that adsorbs one type or size of particle and de-adsorbs a second type or size of particle. Typically, pressure is utilized to compress and force the particles through the filter medium, wherein a first set of particles are adsorbed or trapped in the filter medium and a second set of particles are de-adsorbed or passed-through the filter medium. PSA produces a higher concentration of particles (e.g., the passed-through or de-adsorbed particles) that are considered purified for product output due to the filtration or separation provided by trapping or absorbing a portion of particles into the filter medium.
For instance, with Oxygen PSA, Zeolite is utilized as a filter medium since the composition of Zeolite allows Nitrogen to be adsorbed and Oxygen to be passed or de-adsorbed. In other words, Zeolite is a filter medium in which the larger Nitrogen particles are adsorbed and the smaller Oxygen particles are de-adsorbed (e.g., passed-through). Based on the pressurized particles being forced into the filter medium, purified Oxygen is produced since Nitrogen is filtered and captured in the Zeolite filter medium. The filtration of Nitrogen from Oxygen is just one example for a PSA process and, dependent on the filter medium, PSA can be used to filter various particles from one another to produce a purified product output.
PSA, regardless of the target purified output product, is an extremely sensitive process. In a particular example, a filter medium can crack if pressure reaches a particular level. Once a filter medium cracks, debris and dust from the filter medium often damages the PSA equipment as well as other down-the-line equipment. This often leads to costly equipment repair and/or replacement. However, if the pressure is not at a high enough level, the filtration process will not be optimized and will not produce purified product output efficiently. Thus, operation of PSA techniques includes a larger-than-desired amount of guess work.